Page 60 of Knot for Sale

“Yeah,” I rasped. “Can I have painkillers, please? Because I could really use some painkillers.”

A knock sounded on the flimsy wooden door of... wherever we were. I had a feeling I should know, but everything was one big muddle at the moment. A couple of seconds later, the door slid open on tracks and two alphas peered in.

Gabriel and Curran, my mind supplied, the names coupled with a warm, happy feeling that I wasn’t ready to examine too closely. Rich alpha scents mingled with Elijah’s rose gardenand my own, less familiar fruity absinthe. My mouth started to water, and I had to swallow a groan.

“We heard the whine,” Curran said. “How are you feeling, luv? Need anything?”

“Aspirin,” Elijah said, saving me the trouble. “Or ibuprofen. Something over the counter for the aches.”

He wasn’t meeting the others’ eyes, I noticed—my instincts still hyperaware after days of being so completely vulnerable.

“Coming right up,” Curran said, his craggy face lined with sympathy.

Gabriel, too, was looking anywhere except directly at us. Disquiet prickled at the back of my neck.

“Where’s Onyx?” I asked hoarsely, remembering the third alpha who’d been up close and personal with me during my utter loss of control.

“Sailing the boat,” Curran said, and more details started to filter into my consciousness. None of it helped with the growing sinking feeling.

TheTitania.

My uncle.

Casick and hiscontract.

Abruptly, I wanted something a lot stronger than aspirin.

“We’reen routeto the port near Athens where the others rented this rust bucket,” Gabriel said, still not looking at us. “When you’re feeling a bit better, we should discuss next steps.”

Yeah... and there wasn’t enough aspirin in the world forthatconversation. Mingled scents wafted around me, missing only the clean sharpness of spruce and bayberry.

“Just get us on a plane to New York,” I said, too quickly. “I, uh... I might have to pay you b-back for my ticket later.”

“As I said, we can discuss details when you’re feeling more yourself.” Gabriel looked as discomfited as I felt, and Elijah didn’t seem to be faring much better.

“I’ll be right back with those pills,” Curran muttered, and both of them left. Curran returned a few moments later with a small plastic bottle, which he handed to Elijah.

“Thanks,” I managed, stomping on a vivid sense memory of pressing my nose to the juncture of Curran’s neck and shoulder while a rough purr rumbled up from his chest.

“Take a couple of these and try to get some more rest,” he said kindly. “The wind’s not cooperating at the moment, so it looks like it’ll take us awhile to get where we’re going.”

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek. When he’d retreated, closing the sliding privacy door behind him, Elijah’s tense shoulders slumped as though in relief.

“Something’s going on,” I said as he shook out a couple of pills and grabbed a bottle of water from a recessed shelf in the wall. “What is it, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” he said unconvincingly. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

The prickle at the back of my neck grew sharper. “Don’t lie to me.”

He gestured at the water. “Swallow those first.”

I did, chugging half the bottle as my body remembered how thirsty it was. Then I set it down on the floor—deck?—with a solid clunk. “Talk to me, Elijah.”

He let out a gusty sigh, glancing away before seeming to steel himself to meet my gaze. “Did you smell them? All of us together, I mean, in the cabin.”

The prickle erupted into clanging alarm bells as the sense-memory of being protected and cared for reared its unwanted head. “What do you mean?”

“We’re a scent match, Em,” he said, sounding defeated. “The five of us... like some fucking alphomic romance novel.”

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